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The energy, humour, and irreverence of The Offspring (from day one!) has always made me smile and be entertained with pretty much everything they’ve ever released, and today’s highlighted music video is certainly no different!

They been making music since 1989 and have been popular since 1994, meaning they’ve been in the game for a pretty long time. If however you are not so familiar with them, here’s a great bio courtesy of Stephen Thomas Erlewine, grabbed from rdio.com:

“The Offspring’s metal-inflected punk became a popular sensation in 1994, selling over four million albums on an independent record label. While the group’s credentials and approach follow the indie rock tradition of the ’80s, sonically the Offspring sound more like an edgy, hard-driving heavy metal band, with their precise, pulsing power chords and Dexter Holland’s flat vocals. Featuring Holland, guitarist Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman, bassist Greg Kriesel, and drummer Ron Welty, the Offspring released their self-titled debut album in 1989. Four years later, their second album, Ignition, became an underground hit, setting the stage for the across-the-board success of 1994’s Smash. The Nirvana sound-alike “Come Out and Play,” the first single from the album, became an MTV hit in the summer of 1994, which paved the way to radio success.

The Offspring were played on both alternative and album rock stations, confirming their broad-based appeal. “Self Esteem,” the second single, followed the same soft verse/loud chorus formula and stayed on the charts nearly twice as long as “Come Out and Play.” The group got offers from major labels, yet chose to stay with Epitaph. While they were able to play arenas in the U.S., their success didn’t translate in foreign countries. Nevertheless, the band’s popularity continued to grow in America, as “Gotta Get Away” became another radio/MTV hit in the beginning of 1995. The Offspring recorded a version of the Damned’s “Smash It Up” for the Batman Forever soundtrack in the summer of that year; it kept the group on the charts as the bandmembers worked on their third album.

Following a prolonged bidding war and much soul-searching, the Offspring decided to leave Epitaph Records in 1996 for Columbia Records. The move was particularly controversial within the punk community, and many artists on the Epitaph roster, including Pennywise and owner Brett Gurewitz, criticized the band. After much delay, the Offspring finally released their Columbia debut, Ixnay on the Hombre, in February of 1997. Expectations for the record were high and it did receive good reviews, but Ixnay on the Hombre failed to become a crossover hit on the level of Smash, and the group also lost a significant portion of its hardcore punk audience due to the album’s major-label status. Americana followed in 1998, scoring the hit “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy).” In mid-2000, the Offspring made controversial headlines with their decision to offer Conspiracy of One free of charge via the Internet prior to the initial November release date. Sony Music did not adhere to such a move and threatened a lawsuit; therefore, the band nixed plans to release the album in such a manner. Individual singles, however, were made available on the band’s official website and other music-related sites such as MTV Online.

The Offspring returned in 2003 with Splinter. The album was released through Columbia, proving the band’s flouting of the record biz hadn’t soured the major labels. It also featured the single “Hit That,” which returned to the smarmy, pop-referential feel of “Pretty Fly.” The Offspring toured the world in support of Splinter, and in the process they hit nearly every continent at least once. They returned in June 2005 with a greatest-hits set; in addition to their major hits, it included the new track “Can’t Repeat.” In 2008, after several delays, the band returned with its first studio release in four-and-a-half years, releasing the highly anticipated Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace. While touring for their latest effort, the Offspring set to work writing new material and recording when they could. After three years of work, their ninth album, Days Go By, arrived in the summer of 2012.”

Right, now that you’re up to speed, here’s the music in question. Taken off 2012’s Days Go By album, Cruising California (Bumpin’ in my trunk) is fun, catchy and just an absolute summer smile creator. Love it, absolutely love it! :)

I have been a massive, massive fan of Papa Roach ever since I laid my grubby hands on their Infest album way back in 2000, their rock/rap approach appealing to the raucous music tendencies of my twenties.

Over time, as I’ve grown and matured, so have they and their musical style, and while I do sometimes yearn for the sound of their earlier material, as a hard rock band they remain one of the absolute best!

Taken off rdio.com, Heather Phares writes up this pretty good biography for the band:

“Starting out as a punk- and rap-influenced band, the northern Californian group Papa Roach eventually grew into a straight-ahead hard rock ensemble with strong heavy metal leanings. Consisting of Coby Dick, Jerry Horton, Dave Buckner, and Tobin Esperance, Papa Roach formed in 1993 and began releasing EPs soon after, including 1994’s Potatoes for Christmas and 1995’s Caca Bonita. By 1996, the group had replaced original bassist Will James with Esperance and hired a new manager; the following year, Papa Roach released their first full-length album, Old Friends from Young Years, which became a surprise hit on local radio.

The band’s regional success led to more prominent gigs, including dates with Suicidal Tendencies, Sevendust, and Powerman 5000, and a deal with Dreamworks Records, which released Papa Roach’s second album, Infest, in early 2000. The album went triple platinum thanks to the success of “Last Resort“, an intensely popular single that helped make Papa Roach one of the most beloved hard rock acts of the new millennium. Two years later, frontman Coby Dick opted to go by his given name of Jacoby Shaddix, and a new album, lovehatetragedy, was released that June. Stylistically, the band had begun to grow beyond its rap-rock roots and the new tracks showcased a slightly more mature, melodic, and straightforward hard rock sound. That same summer, however, the band joined a number of rap acts — including Ludacris and Xzibit — on Eminem’s Anger Management Tour.

In 2004, Papa Roach released their fourth studio effort, Getting Away with Murder. Buoyed by the success of the single “Scars,” Getting Away with Murder sold well and eventually went platinum. Two years later, Papa Roach began work on their fourth studio album at the infamous and historical Paramour mansion in Hollywood, once the home of silent movie star Antonio Moreno. Released in fall 2006, The Paramour Sessions featured a heavy L.A. rock aesthetic and generated two Top 10 rock singles, although its sales stalled around 400,000 copies. Drummer Dave Buckner exited the lineup one year later; after filling the empty seat with Unwritten Law’s Tony Palermo, Papa Roach hit the road to support The Paramour Sessions with tour dates alongside Seether and Staind. They remained on the road after joining Mötley Crüe’s Crüe Fest in 2008, but the band also found time to return to the Paramour mansion, where they launched songwriting sessions for another album.

Released in early 2009, Metamorphosis found Papa Roach reprising their interpretation of metallic hard rock and reuniting with Infest producer Jay Baumgardner. Papa Roach parted ways with Interscope in 2010 and signed a deal with the independent Eleven Seven label. The career-spanning collection The Best of Papa Roach: To Be Loved also appeared in 2010. The band’s first album for Eleven Seven, Time for Annihilation, combined new cuts and live re-recordings of their hits and appeared in August of 2010. In 2012, Papa Roach delivered its seventh studio album, The Connection. Featuring production from Sixx: A.M. frontman James Michael, as well as Goldfinger’s John Feldmann, the album showcased a mix of the styles and sounds the band has touched on over the years from rap to more straight-ahead hard rock.”

Now that we are all familiar with Papa Roach, (who have since released a new album in 2015 entitled F.E.A.R.) let’s turn our attention to today’s track. Taken off 2012’s The Connection album, here’s Where Did the Angels Go, another near perfect rock track from one of the bands I’ve followed right from the get go!

I’ve been a big fan of Seether / Saron Gas right from the start, and by start I mean from the time when Barney Simon used to rave about these teenagers and their unbelievably good tracks on his late night rock show on 5FM (back in the good old days when I still enjoyed listening to 5!).

Anyway, before linking to the video that headlines today’s post, I best borrow Bradley Torreano and Andrew Leahey’s biography for the band, grabbed off the excellent rdio.com:

“Hailing from South Africa and comprising members Shaun Morgan (vocals, guitar), Dale Stewart (bass), and John Humphrey (drums), Seether embraces a brand of heavy metal mostly associated with the post-grunge era of alternative music, complete with crunchy distortion and brooding textures. The band emerged in 1999 as Saron Gas (a name taken from the back of a sound effects CD) and released their debut album, Fragile, the following year on Musketeer Records. In a country whose musical tastes center around pop and indigenous music, Fragile found impressive chart success. Across the Atlantic, the U.S.-based Wind Up Records caught wind of the band’s growing popularity and signed the South African bandmates, who changed their name to Seether in light of Saron Gas’ similarity to the lethal nerve agent sarin gas.

An EP release and a spot on the Ozzfest tour preceded the unveiling of Seether’s full-length debut in the summer of 2002. Issued that August, Disclaimer featured the modern rock single “Fine Again” and led to a year-long tour, during which singer Morgan’s relationship with Evanescence siren Amy Lee blossomed. But while the tour ensured increasing commercial status for Seether, it also delayed the band’s return to the studio. In March 2004, a few tracks appeared on the Punisher soundtrack, including a duet version of Disclaimer’s “Broken” featuring vocal contributions from Lee.

Disclaimer II appeared that June, pairing a handful of new tracks with remixed or re-recorded versions of the previous album’s tracks. Seether viewed the album as an opportunity to re-evaluate their debut’s release (whose mix was, according to the band, subpar) and gave listeners new content as a holdover until the band’s proper follow-up. The promised sophomore effort, Karma and Effect, was released in May 2005 and entered the Top Ten, while the acoustic CD/DVD package One Cold Night appeared in 2006.

Following Morgan’s breakup with Amy Lee and a successful stint in rehab, Seether returned in 2007 with Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces, introducing the album with the snide and catchy single “Fake It.” In 2009 the band took a break from touring to head into the studio with producer Brendan O’Brien to work on their fifth album. They went back out on the road for another year before eventually releasing Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray in 2011. Isolate and Medicate, the band’s sixth studio long-player, followed in 2014.”

Right, with that out of the way, it’s off to the video in question: taken off their new 2014 album, Isolate and Medicate, Words as Weapons is a particularly enjoyable song with, as always, fantastically strong lyrics and a great riff.

Shaun Morgan and his buddies seem to almost never do wrong when it comes to making music – meaning thus that this track is well worth the listen! :)

One thing I enjoy after having made Alternative FM (AFM) 91.3 FM my de facto music station is that I get exposed to a lot of great South African music.

Case in point. Glaskas.

“Glaskas needs no introduction to the South African music scene. Since their emergence in the world of rock as winner of JIP’s Rockspaaider in the Eastern Cape in 2004, they have gained vast recognition as a name on the tips of the tongues of music insiders and the public alike. With four full-length albums to their name, Glaskas have already established themselves as one of the leading Afrikaans bands in the country. Glaskas band members are Deon Meiring (lead Vocals and Guitar), Lolke-Louis Claassen (backup Vocals and Drums) and Francois Kleynhans (backup Vocals and Bass).

In 2006, Glaskas released their debut album entitled Revolusie, Romantiek, Ruk en Rol. In 2008, they released their second album Engele Wat Skree, which was followed by their 2010 release, entitled Aan Die Ontmaskerde Heldin. Last year, the band released their much anticipated fourth album and latest album Verganklik en Afhanklik.

With the release of four albums, Glaskas have enjoyed the following accolades: nominations for a SAMA for Best Afrikaans Rock Album; VONK Music Award for Best Music Video, Best Rock Album, Album of the Year and Best Group; and most recently their 2013 Ghoema nomination for Best Rock Album. Their songs have been included on the soundtracks for the South African films Bakgat, Bakgat 2 and Superhelde.”

Anyway, Meneer was the first single off their second album “Engele wat Skree”, released in 2008, and for some or other reason this song really connects with me at the moment, so it makes sense to feature this awesome song on the blog then.

If you haven’t heard it before, enjoy!

Oh, and while Googling for some info on them, I even managed to grab the lyrics for this track:

I know pretty much nothing about South African Afrikaans group Bittereinder, other than the fact that the term “Bittereinders” was the name for a faction of Boer guerrilla fighters who resisted the forces of the British Empire in the later stages of the Second Boer War (1899-1902).

I don’t think the two are really related. (Could be wrong of course).

However, that’s completely beside the point of this music post. The point of this post is to introduce you to the incredibly talented guys who unleashed this addictive, amusing and quite brilliant Afrikaans/English white rap tune in the dying breaths of 2012.

It’s a little bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, but I kind of like it when a Jack Parow tune pops up on the radio. His tracks always manage to be pretty damn catchy, even if the irreverent lyrics sometimes make themselves pretty difficult to look the other way!

Anyway, this Afrikaans track features the always loud Francois van Coke on chorus, and as you can imagine, it’s a foot stomper. Though I’m not entirely sure what Nicholis Louw and his fans are going to make of this one…

Goofy South African white trash rap at its finest, if that’s actually possible.

Ha ha, had to laugh at myself the other day. A little while ago, at 17:30 on a Friday afternoon on the way back from work, DJ Fresh and his team featured Robert Miles on their daily Cheese segment on 5FM.

When I heard they were going to be playing one of Miles’ tracks, I immediately thought to myself, “Surely they’ll pick Children, one of his all time classic tracks, and one I remember extremely fondly!?”.

Anyway, so his turn came and I excitedly waited to see which song they had picked, and when it started playing, I shook my head in utter disbelief, unable to believe that they had had the audacity to have chosen this particular song, one which is definitely not one of his most well known tracks, and is definitely not one that I even recognise!

The song played out and I angrily continued to shake my head, when Fresh chirped in letting us all know that Robert Miles’…. Children had just finished playing.

D’oh!

This is how senility starts setting in you know… :P

Anyway, just in case you are like me, and have perhaps forgotten how the awesome Children goes, here’s a link:

(That said, it doesn’t seem quite that awesome now that I’ve been reconnected with it…)

Despite the fact that 3 Doors Down leader singer Brad Arnold was only a pimply 15 years of age when he penned Kryptonite (his fourth song ever written), it still has to go down as one of my favourite rock songs of all time, one that to this day still immediately gets me energized whenever it sneaks in some airtime while no one is looking.

Absolutely brilliant lyrics, awesome arrangement, tons of energy and the perfect rock voice that has gone on to ring in so many hits for 3 Doors Down since their breakout album The Better Life way back in 2000 already. Love the song, and quite frankly, so should you! :P